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Saturday, February 23, 2008

today was the T&T Bible Quizzing.. when i registered my team: Amy and Nathaniel.. you have to write down how many years you have been to Quizzing.. this is Amy's 3rd year and Nathaniel's 2nd.. then I looked up at the lady and i said "am i supposed to include all the years *i* quizzed?" and she shrugged and says "why not?" hehe so i counted it up and wrote down "9".. shocked she looks from my paper to me and goes "well.. we don't have a patch for 9 years.." lol oh well..

but.. it was so cool seeing the kids up on stage doing the multiple choice oral round.. and then takin' em downstairs to do their written tests.. i did it so many times myself.. and i've been to watch multiple T&T quizzes since i moved out of that group.. but something about today.. and i think what triggered it was seeing emma doing it all.. just brought back all the memories.. my first year.. quizzing with Faith and Jenn was our coach.. and before the quiz she bought us both something to eat and she said that we had to get some sort of award or we'd have to pay her back.. by the end of the day Faith and i had earned first place and i had won highest honors.. haha i didn't even know what highest honors WAS !! (then after winning it every other year i quizzed in that group.. i soon realized what it meant) but.. man.. i remember being nervous.. having to sit up in front of all those people.. worrying over the written tests.. and now after 9 years i can finally sit back and watch it all as a coach instead of a participant.. and let me tell you.. its a totally different feeling when the team you coached wins.. than when you as a participant wins.. totally different.. but totally the same..

justin and nate were ready to go.. they don't look nervous do they? but they were.. hehe nate was so nervous.. he forgot to comb his hair this morning.. hehe !

max got the honor of being part of flag ceremony.. very cool..

justin..

justin and nate sat in the PERFECT spot.. there were a whole mass of other kids sitting right next to them.. but the two of them got to sit on the right side all by themselves.. perfect for pictures !

amy and nathaniel (my team) were another story.. oh well..

here they are.. downstairs.. anxiously awaiting their written tests !!

here's emma.. my little sister who reminded me of me up there.. this was her first year.. and she really didn't want to do it.. it totally paid off tho' as you will see..

emma and emily..

this is max's last year in T&T.. and hehe this picture makes me think of his older brother nick.. this is EXACTLY how nick would sit and STARE into his box.. hehe

yeah.. he knows the answers..

omigosh.. this was the cutest thing ever.. while they grade the tests and count up the scores.. they have a short Bible teaching.. and they had special music by the King family.. they were absolutely adorable.. the little kids sang their hearts out.. especially the little one who is looking up at his daddy so sweetly.. they sang in harmony and it was just gorgeous.. from the introduction that was given for them by mr. berks.. he hadn't scheduled anyone to do the special music this year.. and this family walked up to him this morning and asked him if he needed someone to fill that spot.. it is so cool how God works.. i would TOTALLY love to do this someday.. have a family who is ready at any moment to sing a special and who are prepared and willing to do it.. it was so sweet and such a blessing.. that's something i would love to have one day..

waiting for the results.. ellen.. bethany.. ashley.. and joanna.. ellen and ashley will be quizzing next week up in NY.. THEIR quizzing is MUCH harder.. i should know.. even tho' i only quizzed in the T&T group for 3 years.. i quizzed in the older group for 5 years.. its hard stuff..

yeah.. they're anxious to see who won.. :)

the awards ARE really cool..

but they are definitely different than when i quizzed..

so.. the results came in.. and i could only think that the guy announcing the results must get tired of saying "in first place.. friendship baptist church from irwin!" hehe all of the kids who went did EXCELLENTLY.. all of our teams won first place.. a lot of the kids took highest honors with perfect scores.. and poor max.. he didn't have a teammate.. but he did get 3rd place all by himself which is really impressive.. if he would have had a good teammate he would have gotten first place :)

emma was very excited.. as you can imagine.. being her first year.. being crazy nervous.. not even really wanting to do it.. and getting a perfect score and winning first place !! yes.. we all cried :)

amy has quizzed so many times.. but she has never really had a teammate.. like max this year.. she has always quizzed on her own.. and the only way to win first place is to have a team of 2 people.. b/c they take the score of those 2 people and add it together.. so a team of 1 person has literally no chance of placing.. however.. highest honors is given on an individual level.. and so every year amy has gone she has received highest honors.. but she has never won first place.. until this year when she paired up with nathaniel and they BOTH had perfect scores..

the book 1.. emma and emily team.. (emily also had a perfect score)

the book 2.. justin and nate team.. (nate also had a perfect score) justin was one question off of perfect.. and his mom saw the test and he had written the correct answer.. but he had also written a wrong answer but failed to erase it.. so they had to count it as wrong..

the book 3.. amy and nathaniel team.. both having perfect scores..

the T&T Friendship Baptist Church Team 2008.. bringing home 3 more 1st place plaques for the wall of fame downstairs.. hopefully there is room :)

these are all the kids who got highest honors.. from the left there is a little girl.. then emma and emily.. then a young man.. then nate.. amy.. and nathaniel.. hehe more than half of the highest honors receivees were from Friendship Baptist Church.. oh yeah..

they took a BIG group picture.. this is every single one of the clubbers who quizzed today..

soo.. next weekend we are heading to NY for the JV and Varsity.. err.. i guess its now called Trek and Journey 24/7.. but we still call em JV and Varsity.. ANYWAY.. the junior high and highschoolers will be traveling up to have their quiz.. it is much more exciting and nerve-wracking because it is so much harder !! it will be SO nice to go and not participate this year tho'.. especially remembering that last year our team consisted of only me and nick.. and the 2 of us were up against teams of 5-6 more teens.. hehe we cut it close too.. had to be taken into sudden death round.. oo.. too close for our coach.. she couldn't watch.. BUT mr. balega DID get it on video.. and we did win.. but.. that's all over.. and next week it will be Brandon, Matt, Josh, Philip, Ellen, Ashley, and Rachel's job to uphold the Friendship Baptist Church name and do the best they can !!!

Friday, February 22, 2008

i did up ruby's hair to look like one of the Little Einsteins.. Ruby ran around all day long going "I look like Annie!" hehe

then tonight.. Ruby comes downstairs crying.. then finally declares that Stephen won't let her sleep with him on the top bunk.. so she's going to sleep with me.. well.. how could anyone resist such a sweet speech? so she crawled into my bed and quickly fell asleep.. the only problem is.. i don't know where i'm going to sleep now..

so even tho' she has fallen asleep in the middle of my bed and i'm going to have to sleep on the edge tonight suffering from the occasional kick or two.. i wouldn't give her sleepin' with me up for the world..

she reminds me of when stephen was her age.. we actually set up a bed for him in my room and he slept there every night for the longest time..

Thursday, February 21, 2008

ever since i took our cheap digital camera outside and tried to take a picture of the moon.. only to be upset that it didn't work.. i've loved using my new camera to shoot the moon.. its so much fun to play with the shutter speed and aperature and get cool looking pictures..

these first two were actually taken from the drive thru' window at work.. see? PROOF that you should take your camera everywhere.. :)

then last night we had an eclipse.. that was fun.. the only problem was it was only 7 degrees outside.. and well.. that's really cold.. any normal person would just snap a few shots and go inside to be warm.. furthermore.. any normal person would stop taking pictures when her fingers got so cold she couldn't even feel them from the numbness.. oh but not me.. those were just all signs to stay outside for just a few more minutes.. i was totally tempted to stay and wait for the eclipse to keep receeding.. so i could get a picture of the moon half lit up.. half eclipsed.. but it was really cold.. lol.. it was really cool tho'.. and totally worth the numb fingers..